Pictured here from left to right: Anthony “T” Formichella, former Summit Police Department Lieutenant, and a 1985 graduate of the FBI National Academy Program, and Summit Police Detective/Lt. Michael Rabasca. “T” is the only other Summit officer to have attended the Academy.

From left to right, Summit Police Chief Robert Weck and Det/Lt. Michael Rabasca. Lt. Rabasca is seen here receiving the Summit Police Department Special Recognition Challenge Coin from the Chief.

On March 22nd, two hundred and sixty eight law enforcement officers from agencies in this country and around the world, graduated from the FBI National Academy Program at Quantico, Virginia. And this year, for the first time in decades, one of those officers was a member of the Summit Police Department. After completing the challenging 10 week course, Lt. Michael J. Rabasca proudly represented the City of Summit and joined the ranks of FBI National Academy graduates who make up less than one percent of the country’s law enforcement officers.

The National Academy program has been in existence since 1935 and is internationally known for its academic excellence. Officers participate in a wide range of leadership and specialized training, sharing ideas, techniques and experiences with each other. This can create lifelong partnerships that cross state and international boundaries, fostering cooperation and shared knowledge between law enforcement agencies worldwide.

The fitness component of the Academy is epitomized by the “Yellow Brick Road,” a grueling run through a hilly, wooded trail built by the Marines, with a series of obstacles to surmount: rock faces, creeks, barbed wire, walls and more. It gets its name from the yellow bricks left by the Marines to show runners the way through the course and presents the final physical challenge at the Academy.

The participants in the Academy are leaders and managers of state and local police, sheriffs’ departments, military police organizations and federal law enforcement agencies and they attend by invitation only through a nomination process. The invitees are drawn from all over America and from over 150 international partner nations.

Summit Chief of Police Robert Weck, accompanied by Captains Andrew Bartolotti and Steven Zagorski, and Det/Sgt. Peter Frank, was at the graduation ceremony whose principal speaker was FBI Director Robert Mueller. Chief Weck noted, “I could not be prouder of Lt. Rabasca, who is the commander of our Detective Bureau. This was something he really desired to do, even though it meant leaving his family for ten weeks and undergoing real physical challenges. The entire department and I supported him one hundred percent both personally and professionally, and his achievement is evidence of our ongoing commitment to continuing education in the upper ranks of our Department. The community will be well-served by the leadership and technical training Lt. Rabasca received and the contacts he has made. Hopefully, we will have other officers who are willing to accept this challenge in the future.”

Let's go on a college tour or two or four! Through the Summit Area YMCA, we made it easy for you... with a pre-planned fun-filled trip visiting four amazing colleges in the Southeast! including University of Richmond, Spelman/Morehouse, Morris Brown College, and Clark Atlanta University.

CRANFORD – This summer the Office of Continuing Education at Union County College is offering the 2018 College for Teens program sponsored by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

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On this week’s AtlantiCast, learn some important tips for controlling and avoiding diabetes from an Atlantic Health System expert, see how Atlantic Health is advancing cutting-edge research, hear what’s being done to keep health care environmentally friendly and much more!